New Zealand Today - The 2009 Mascot Race Scandal

2009 a different world paninis had just come out and michael jackson died and you were says but you knew in 2009 Ellerslie racecourse hosted a charity 100 meters race for New Zealand's greatest mascots including the Griffins beer the light hops Playland cares and crowd favorites life education trusts Harold the giraffe for four years straight Harold the giraffe dominated the event and collected the $5,000 prize every time 2009 was the year everything changed the New Zealand Breakers mascot entered the race for the first time and cheeky the Kia blitzed the field arrogantly crossing the finish line backwards Harold was furious and then things got really ugly Harold reportedly accused of New Zealand Breakers of hiring a professional sprinter and loading them up with performance-enhancing drugs the scandal sent shockwaves through the mascot community and the negative publicity caused the organizers to cancel the mascot Dash for Cash forever I'm headed to NZ breakers headquarters to confront former cheeky and 2009 - for cash champion Simon Edwards to find out what really went on all those years ago nice to meet you Simon I'm guy time I know I so this is really sad isn't it it is very sad for the world of mascots yes 2009 was the last time the Dash for Cash was run because of what happened with you and a man dressed in a giraffe costume potentially I have heard through the grapevine that there was a mascot that put a complaint in about cheeky the kid that mascot was in Herald the draft they were accusing you of being a promise printer yeah who else was in the race there was the lollipops cat the LJ Hooker beer this was the kidney kids mascot which is a big kidney you taking the purse no I was like just making out random animal I'm saying there was blue balls the prostate cancer mascot did you have any background in athletics or sprinting no real background I'm not the type of person who will blow my own trumpet you're sitting here wearing a 2009 mascot - for cash champion t-shirt a lot of achievements do you ever history and performance housing drugs I do not know have you ever taken an esper inhaler before I have not no have you ever have to sell he's no more gaps we have a douched alcohol-induced you know like a butt funnel no Chiqui firmly denied any allegations of cheating I had to find Harold to find out why he made the outrageous claims that canceled the race that he loved but this was no easy task mascot identities are some of the world's best kept secrets I spent three weeks in the archives to get a leaves repeat orders of mascot material from the fabric store spotlight in the color joyful giraffe the lead took me to Auckland's North Shore and I came face to face with the disgraced champion whose complaints ruin the race forever the Lance Armstrong of the mascot racing world Harold the giraffe what did you didn't hate anything about cheeky 2009 was more like a fun one for us how do you feel when the Kea beat you I got beaten by about seven mascots gutting and then I hit her Harold had a penguin behind him there luckily he managed to beat the clean one off so you beat off the penguin yeah beat off for penguin Oh Harold beat off a penguin yeah we might want to cheat the Frazee on that Harold was coming to the finish and he could hear our penguin behind him so he had to keep the penguin from beating him off yeah that's bringing back nightmares hello that paved us oh not at all it's more for the fun I heard a rumor that some of the mascots were sprinters that had been put into a costume yeah we weren't too bothered but you've got such a good attitude because I behaved if someone was putting a professional sprinter into the race you know it's more for the fun they speak so what would you say to people who did put a professional sprinter under and good on them no no good on them no it's not cheating and it's more for the fun so I understands for the fun you've seen there literally 200 times see there was no villain no the history of illness a story it's good versus evil Colin was the nicest man I'd ever met and I didn't know who to believe torn between a giraffe and a Kia there was only one way to decide who was telling the truth we should have another race ya reckon another race would be good so what's the most threatening thing I can get you to say down camera about chicky the key figure the care we look forward to having a very competitive race against you in the future can you say say a bit more aggressive than that chicky the kill we are trying our best to be you you're trying your best yes you got to say I'm gonna beat you well we're gonna try our best to beat him you can just go thank you yeah we could go it's so nice it's unbelievable it was time to put the call out and unite the greatest mascots that were available at the time to race for the 2019 mascot - for cash prize we didn't have enough budget for an actual cash prize so he made it for prize all the mascots were on board lollipops Playland cares wing of the CEO latex man and of course cheeky Vecchia he's saying he wants to rematch oh and it's happening ok I'm glad to hear it 2019 we'll be racing it was on I couldn't wait to tell Colin it's all oh very good the excited very excited is there anything you're not excited about ever Oh me cooking in order to take cheeky down and beat off the penguin Colin had a lot of work to do it had been 10 years since Colin last ran with Harold and to get him back into peak physical condition we had to start right now good pace mate keep it going looking good I tried negative reinforcement like application in and positive reinforcement you're doing a great job you get your act together co-op sorry about that new piece they're called burpees so these disparities we hate herpes too though all right good job why do I have to keep teaching my class so it makes a little light you've run for more than one day huh not here not here there's children around Colin wasn't that fun but what he did have was hard by half thirteen and in order to stop that heart from hurting we had to finish training early let's go kick some ass let's go kick some we don't say ass let's go kick some butt our training was done but was Harold ready there was only one way to find out race day alexandra park the world was ready for the return of the mascot - for pride record snow cash for the first time in ten years right a very good evening everybody won't belong to Alexandra Park what a night perfect here in the city of sails for the mascot race odds done it's the mascot race was back and the tension was thick in the air as the competitors prepared for the biggest event on the mascot calendar it was hard to gauge what was going through their minds because unfortunately the first rule of being a mascot is not talking what's your strategy for winning the race today nice to meet you what's your name are you allowed to talk have you never done the seagull before no are you a fast runner that just sends into the race to win the race the students of what sprinting how do you think your biggest competition is I think my biggest competition is not having okay back there right now yeah and what's your name sir what's your real name what's the name your character oh I'm hearing the frog from Tex refundable tax returns yeah texture tune you don't even know do you know how are you feeling about your chances in tonight's race guys look fascist okay well don't swear lollipop scare latex man what's your strategy for tonight's race go hard what the is this there's just a potato man but literally a vegetable I'll be honest with you I've seen some shocking mascots in my time and this is right up there with the best of them where do you go to the kids would be so smiling at me so you're looking at that demented face this was it Harold versus cheeky the winner would get to rewrite the history of mascot racing forever cheeky are you ready Harold are you ready this mascot race hasn't run in ten years and tonight we're bringing it back so go out there and run the best race of your entire life and good luck to all of you I think you've all got a wonderful chance of winning simply you mr. potato your folks ladies and gentlemen this is at the New Zealand today mascot race ready to go you're under starter's orders on your marks get set go in there off Eric the Frog is out strongly down the inside I'm the attorney I was top of the tuatara Trevor on the inside there was cheeky the chaos driving away though winger the seagull the race was over and although Harold or chicky didn't take the gold they took my heart because at the end of the day they're all ones lollipop scat tax refund frog and there's a horrific mascot a ladies and gentlemen alexandra park thank you so much for having us I hope you enjoyed the 2019 New Zealand today - for Pride brackets no cash give yourselves a round of applause for being part of this fantastic events but today there was only one winner and that winner is when you ever see yeah [Music] we near the sea go head one cheeky was gutters swing of a seagull was literally a winger for Auckland rugby development something like that do you feel like maybe like heralded when you beat him well yes I have been contemplating about what Harold might have been feeling those 10 years ago bad luck cheeky man you at heart and Harold Harold tried his best so wing averse ego has beaten off cheeky the Kea and I bet the Beth of the race you know beat off the potato and in many ways that's a one yeah Lisa beat something on the track so I'm very happy for the first time in ten years the mascot race has a new champion and a new legend a legend that tells the tower of a group of grown men and woman in weird suits putting their differences aside to resurrect one of the greatest sporting events the world has ever seen because everyone deserves love and there's you're a potato Guy Williams New Zealand today [Music]

Channel: New Zealand Today

Views: 169,698

Rating: 4.9736147 out of 5

Keywords: comedy, parody, jono and ben, Mascot Race, New Zealand, Guy Williams, New Zealand Today, Harold the Giraffe, Cheeky the Kea, Mascot Sprint, Dash for cash, Colbert, Stephen Colbert, the newest zealander, breakers, the late show, late show, NZ breakers, life education trust

Id: RKjih4VIBWU

Length: 11min 29sec (689 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Fark Colin's a GC

[u/ShesSimplyThere]

Watch if you're into giraffes beating off penguins.

[u/lolpwny]

The crew running in circles in the background almost made me cry.

[u/couchumina]

The giraffe guy is a champion

[u/redhed77]

The giant check for “PRIDE” kills me 😂

[u/thewaybaseballgo]

Guy Williams is New Zealand’s greatest export

[u/earfullofcorn]

I watch his videos over and over and over and laugh out loud so hard. Thank you, Guy, for your videos!

[u/thewaybaseballgo]

You’re a good cunt, /u/guywilliamsguy

[u/nembor]

"Is there anything you're not excited about ever?"

"Me cooking"